axe
Britishnoun
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a hand tool with one side of its head forged and sharpened to a cutting edge, used for felling trees, splitting timber, etc See also hatchet
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an ulterior motive
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a grievance
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a pet subject
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informal
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dismissal, esp from employment; the sack (esp in the phrase get the axe )
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severe cutting down of expenditure, esp the removal of unprofitable sections of a public service
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slang any musical instrument, esp a guitar or horn
verb
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to chop or trim with an axe
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informal to dismiss (employees), restrict (expenditure or services), or terminate (a project)
Etymology
Origin of axe
Old English æx; related to Old Frisian axa, Old High German acchus, Old Norse öx, Latin ascia, Greek axinē
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The music was seen by some as a crass commercialization of the axé of the blocos afro.
From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2019
The word axé, she said, “means a blessing. A positive energy. Axé is an affirmative way of starting discussions against oppression. Against social exclusion. Against racial discrimination. This for me was a new poetic language.”
From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2019
The stage teems with dancers in billowing Afro-Brazilian garb; a battery of drummers pounds out the rhythms of axé, the densely percussive pop native to Salvador that Mercury made famous.
From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2019
Out of them sprang axé, which merged samba, reggae and other African, Brazilian and Caribbean beats with a force that overwhelmed her.
From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2019
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
